Connecticut-based Twitch streamer Warren Pandiscia has sued Amazon, alleging that the platform owned by the company violated its user agreement.
The lawsuit alleges that content produced by Twitch streamers was used to train artificial intelligence models without obtaining explicit permission. The plaintiffs argue that the creators’ work was used for commercial purposes without their consent or compensation.
What the plaintiffs want from the court
The plaintiffs are seeking damages for streamers whose content was allegedly used to train artificial intelligence systems. The filing also asks the court to block Amazon from continuing the practice.
Amazon and Twitch have not yet commented on the lawsuit.
Twitch’s use of artificial intelligence
Twitch announced in August that user content could be used in Amazon’s artificial intelligence work. The platform offered streamers the option to opt out, but the decision drew a backlash from content creators.
The company’s frequently asked questions section states that users’ voice recordings may be used to develop speech-to-text models. The use is intended to improve automatic captioning systems on Twitch streams and Amazon videos.
In the first months of this year, streamers produced more than 215 million hours of content on Twitch.